A Research on Niche Strategy for the Technology Innovation of Chinese SMEs

In current global finance crisis, a lot of Chinese small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) have been going worse or even closed down. This paper begins with the analysis of the problems existing in the technology innovation of SMEs, and then compares the characteristics of three innovation ways as imitation innovation, cooperative innovation and independent innovation, and points out that niche strategy is an effective strategic choice, finally builds up a technology innovation model of Chinese SMEs based on niche strategy. The major conclusions are drawn out as following: (1) In the initial start-up period, enterprises should insist on the way of differentiation, and utilize the technology captured through imitation innovation entering less-competitive industries; (2) In the developing process, enterprises should insist on the way of specialization, continuously explore new niche market with the technology captured through imitation innovation and cooperative innovation, and keep healthy and steady development; (3) When enterprises developed to a certain scale, they should utilize patent, technology standard, and intellectual property to protect their core technologies and build up entry barriers through cooperative innovation and independent innovation so as to obtain core competence and persistent competitive advantage.